Flattening the O-Gauge Zen Garden

Frank Ellison, an influential model railroader of the postwar era, likened his layout to a theater. The trains were the actors, and the scenery was the stage sets they moved through.

Flats are one of the most common theater sets. As the name implies, a flat is simply a flat surface painted to suggest a larger (and deeper) structure.

Looking for a flat (or two)

I decided that flats would make ideal photo backdrops for my O-gauge Zen garden. And when it comes to flats for model railroads, there are many options. Some lines, such as Ameri-Towne, offer walls from their building kits for separate sale. It's also easy to simply purchase a building kit (like an old Plasticville model) and just use one or more walls.

Panoramic photo backdrops are also available. But I just wanted some structures. I chose a couple of flats from P.T.F. Designs. They're high-quality photographs of real structures mounted on foam core.

As you can see, they fit in quite well. And for the most part, it's not apparent that they are completely flat.

Adding some depth

When I placed the two flats on the layout, they didn't look quite right. I built out the larger structure, and that did the trick. 

The larger building now casts a shadow on the smaller. Once they were no longer on the same plane, the flats appeared more realistic.

And building out the second flat was quite simple. I scanned the flat into my computer. I then printed out a copy. I trimmed two strips from the copied image, each one inch wide

Both strips were mounted to 3/4"-wide pieces of foam core. One had a 1/4" paper overhang on the right, the other on the left. Those overhangs were glued to the sides of the original flat. I now had a quite shallow three-sided structure.

I'll be adding more flats to this layout, and varying the depth of each. This proved to be a quick and inexpensive way to add scenery.

Election Day - More than a Wave

Same time next year?

Every election day I write basically the same post. That is, it's not just important to vote in the big contests. It's important to vote every election.

Because the politicians who can impact your daily life aren't always in Washington. Sometimes, they're at the state capitol. Sometimes, they're governing your county, your city, or your town.

Suppose the party you like takes control of the Federal Government -- but the other party has control of the State House. You can bet that there will be lots of roadblocks to Federal mandates, and perhaps even some countering state laws as well.

What if your town council is mostly made up of folks who have the opposite political view as you? Get ready for new ordinances, taxes, and/or fees you won't like.

We just had a big fight over the Supreme Court nominee. If you had strong opinions about, you should know that many states elect their judges. Sit out an off-year election, and a member of the party you don't like could end up sitting on your state supreme court, appellate court, trial court, or (in some cases), even probate court.

The rulings in those courts will affect you and your community, and perhaps more directly than those of the Supreme Court.

Many law enforcement officials are elected. Some are quite competent, others are just political hacks. How qualified do you want the person in charge of public safety (and your personal security) to be?

This election is important. But don't vote and think it's over until 2020. Every election matters. Because every election shapes some aspect of our government -- local, state, federal.

When it comes to freedom, we should all sweat the small stuff. Because that's where the erosion starts.

Diabelli Project 214 - Duet for Clarinet and Marimba, Part 11

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This is the eleventh installment of my Clarinet and Marimba Duet. The goal of these flash composition sessions is to get the editor/critic part of my brain out of the way of my creative part. And often that means I surprise myself.

In this case, when I started my 10-minute flash session, I suddenly felt like the piece had almost arrived at the final section. I already knew the final section would be a recap of the first. And in this case, a somewhat condensed version of it.

My internal editor/critic thought there might be another week or so of work to do on this, but my subconscious gets the last word. So the piece is finished. Next week I'll publish the full score with final comments. 

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Lars-Erik Larsson Symphony No. 3 - music that should be heard more often

This release completes Andrew Manze's traversal of Lars-Erik Larsson symphonies -- although I hope he doesn't stop there. Larsson was a talented composer who crafted his own language out of various 20th Century trends. It's a voice that needs to be heard more often.

The centerpiece of this release is Larsson's 1944 Symphony No. 3 in C minor. Larsson withdrew the symphony after its premiere. The final movement of the third symphony was reworked and recast as his Concert Overture No. 3. It's a shame that the work went unheard for decades. The symphony is a superbly-crafted four-movement work with brilliant motifs and equally brilliant orchestrations.

The work opens with a motif as distinctive as that of Beethoven's 5th symphony. And like Beethoven's theme, it forms the foundation of all that follows. How to describe the slow movement? Beautifully poignant. It's highly chromatic harmonies reminded me somewhat of Wagner -- with perhaps a little more restraint. The third movement has some lovely modal passages that could only come from Larsson. And the finale brings it all home with the opening motif transformed into something new, yet still recognizable. This symphony is a masterwork.

Andrew Manze and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra perform with energy and verve. The orchestra has a warm, full sound. The wind and brass sections are especially fine in this recording, especially in solo passages.

Also included are three of Larsson's later works. The Adagio for String Orchestra and Tre Orkesterstyken (Three Orchestral Pieces) date from 1960. Larsson had incorporated 12-tone technique into his work -- or rather, he adapted it to his needs. The works sound highly chromatic, yet remain grounded. Larsson harnesses the dissonances of 12-tone music to heighten the emotional impact of his (somewhat) tonal melodies.

This release was well worth the wait.

Lars-Erik Larsson: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Symphony No. 3, Op. 34; Tre Orkesterstyken op. 49; Adagio for String Orchestra op. 48, Musica permutatio for Orchestra op. 66 
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Manze, conductor 
CPO 777673-2  SACD 

#ClassicsaDay #FamousLastWorks Week 5

october Famous last Works For the month of October, the #ClassicsaDay team (of which I'm a part), decided to go with a Halloween theme. The idea is to share works marked in some way with the composer's demise. It can be the last piece a composer completed before death, or one left incomplete at death.

For my part, I chose to narrow the focus a little bit. Not all incomplete works were deathbed projects. Schubert, for example, abandoned his "Unfinished" symphony six years before his death. For my contributions, I focussed on the last piece a composer wrote -- whether it was completed or not.  

From famous last words to #FamousLastWorks. Here are my posts for the final week of October.

Giuseppe Verdi - Falstaff

Verdi completed his 28th opera -- Falstaff -- as he approached his eighth birthday. The work took three years to write, and Verdi worked on revisions up until his death. Initially, Falstaff received a lukewarm reception. Toscanini championed the opera, helping Falstaff to become part of the accepted operatic canon. https://youtu.be/eZOClxjcSYg

Giacomo Puccini - Turandot

Puccini was very close to finishing Turandot when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had composed all but the final duet, which he was never satisfied with. When he died, the first two acts were completed and orchestrated, as was most of the last act. Franco Alfano completed the opera, reprising "Nessun dorma" for the finale.

Hugo Wolf - Manuel Venegas

Wolf suffered from syphillis and by 1897 it was triggering bouts of insanity. Wolf began work on the opera Maneul Venegas, hoping to complete the work in his decreasing moments of lucidity. He was unsuccessful, and died with only the first act sketched out.

Sergie Rachmanoniff - Piano Concerto to No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 (two-piano reduction)

Rachmaninoff was working on a two-piano version of his fourth piano concerto when his health gave out. His last original composition were the 1940 Symphonic Dances. The piano reduction was left incomplete at the time of his death. Richard Rodney Bennett completed the two-piano version at the request of Rachmaninoff's widow.

Frederick Chopin - Mazurka in F minor, Op. 68, No. 4

There's some question as to whether this Mazurka is indeed Chopin's final composition. The work exists only a a single-page sketch. It may have been written as early as 1846. Chopin was in the process of making clean copies of his manuscripts when he died, and the supposition was that he wasn't able to get to this one. Auguste Franchomme and Julian Fontana made a performance version of the work, but it's not complete -- some of the middle section is virtually illegible and was left it out.

Frederick Delius - Idyll

By 1923 Delius was paralysed and blind -- and unable to composer. An admirer, Eric Fenby, offered his services as an amanuensis. From 1928 until Delius' death in 1934, the two worked together. "Idyll" was the final composition completed by Delius.